Editorial: Learn to respect free speech

Middlebury College students shouted down Libertarian political scientist and author Charles Murray as he tried to deliver a speech Thursday afternoon.
NICOLE HIGGINS DeSMET/FREE PRESS

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Middlebury College students protest speaker Dr. Charles Murray on Thursday, March 2, 2017, at Middlebury College. The protesters forced Murray’s talk to be moved to a different venue, and later confronted the author and a professor in what college President Laurie Patton described as a “violent incident.”(Photo: NICOLE HIGGINS DeSMET/Free Press)Buy Photo

The Middlebury College protest that ended in violence against an invited speaker exposes a great failure in education at arguably Vermont’s most prestigious liberal arts college.

The incident shows a significant number of students have come to believe they have the right and moral imperative to shout down those with whom they disagree, rather than engage in a meaningful and civil exchange to prove their point.

When debating ideas on a college campus, violence is never an acceptable option.

Middlebury College finds itself in the national spotlight after students on March 2 shut down a talk by Charles Murray, a libertarian social scientist and author who was invited by the student American Enterprise Institute Club to talk about his 2012 book, “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.”

The incident garnered national coverage including editorials in The New York Times and The Boston Globe, and a piece by Washington Post columnist George Will.

Student protesters said Murray promoted racism and eugenics, focusing on his 1996 book, “The Bell Curve,” co-authored with Richard J. Herrnstein, which includes discussions about racial differences in intelligence.

The college was forced to move the event to another venue. After the talk, protesters, in the words of college President Laurie Patton, “aggressively confronted” Murray and college Professor Allison Stanger as they were leaving McCullough Student Center.

“That confrontation turned into a violent incident with a lot of pushing and shoving, and an attack on the car in which they were leaving campus,” Patton wrote in a message to the college community.

“Many of these protestors were outside agitators, but there are indications that Middlebury College students were involved,” she said.

Patton apologized to Murray, as well as Stanger and “everyone who came in good faith to participate in a serious discussion.”

Murray has called for the students involved to be punished. The president promised the college would respond “in the very near future to the clear violations” of college policy. Patton must show publicly she has followed through on this promise.

The college president does deserves credit for taking an aggressive stand against the student conduct and for pledging to rededicate the school to the ideal of free speech.

Students at a liberal arts college – especially an elite institution like Middlebury – should welcome the opportunity and the luxury they have to confront and debate a wide spectrum of ideas.

Delving into unfamiliar beliefs, especially those that a person might find abhorrent, can be a tough and uncomfortable process, but is an indispensable part of a well-rounded education.

The protesters who chose to shut down Murray took the easy way out.

Engagement Editor Aki Soga attended the Middlebury College summer language program in 1978. Contact Soga at asoga@freepressmedia.com. Join the conversation online at BurlingtonFreePress.com or send a letter to the editor to letters@freepressmedia.com.